I bought a cheap bag of sixpenny coins on Saturday didn't really know anything about them apart they were useful to exchange for sweets when I was a kid. I have had some fun going through them and picking out the best of each year, photographing, cataloguing them and putting them into flips. It is like having a crash recentish modern history lesson. They stopped being made in 1967 - but go back for ever. The bag was cheap and incomplete now I have an almost OCD urge to get the fill in years for a complete run. The bag had 1967 back to 1958, missed 1957, then continued running back to 1952 (typically a key year as nickel was scare through the Korean War) to 1947. 1946 was the last 'silver' year. Thankfully these coins are still very collectable as I am now back to 1937 with other years (1931, 1927, 1926, 1921, 1920 and 1889) on their way to me. That initial bag has cost about £40!!! Well actually that initial bag cost £3 - but with the extra storage box, different flips and extra coins it come to a shade under £40! Do you all still get that buzz of discovery, renewal of history, sense of loss of things gone by? Sad that George 6th lost Emperor of India title? Silver is no longer used in current coins? Above all else, an extreme urge to spend on all years? As a footnote to anyone that got this far, I have a number of spares. They are all circulated and differing degrees of dirty. Does anyone want some of them?
Very addictive. This is how great collecting themes get started. Be careful! As soon as you complete the date run you will want to upgrade or expand to other denominations.
I started out many years ago with a few Ancients (mostly uncleaned LRB) and caught the bug and went into everything from Medieval to the current modern issues---including currency...and 'filling those holes' becomes an obsession!!---but a very satisfying one in most ways...only the impatience to continue (and budget constraints) becomes a bit frustrating.
Very addictive... Once a coin show is over, I'm almost immediately looking forward to the next one! Also, I'm a history lover, so if I'm watching a historical movie/documentary or if I'm reading a history book, I get a "craving" for a coin of that period... Terrible, ha,ha!
Ha! These go back to 1551 so completing the date run is going to cost a house! My initial aim is to get back to Queen Victoria, then probably further back, prices get a it more serious then. It is about keeping it real, but luckily these are very affordable coins and plentiful. A tanner was the right amount to give a kid in the ‘60s and I'm guessing folk had loads of them in jars. Sadly to me they converted into Spangles or Curley Wurlies rather than saved. That bag also had a few shilling coins and I feel able to resist for the time being at least. I enjoyed collecting the bullion US Silver Eagles and enjoyed getting a complete run from 1986 and filling those difficult years is a joy.
I know exactly how you feel. Coins connect you to the past or to somewhere else that you love. I love Australia so I collect those coins just as much as US coins.
Addictive? LOL. There are (2) things I can tell you about this subject. Number 1: I was stationed in Hawaii for three years back in the early 2000's. All I can say is that I would wait on the inside of my door or the screen ( I could see my mailbox from that position) and wait impatiently for the postman. EACH and EVERY DAY I would rub my hands together and would receive 4-6 little brown packages daily that would quell my constant thirst for coins. There were times when I would not get a single package and I was like I then realized it was a federal holiday and calmed back down. Number 2: At the last coin show I attended I spent over $1200 on coins. The problem is that every TIME there is a coin show that I attend I spend money like this.
Wow - that is addiction on a totally different level that I wouldn't even hope to get to but I admire your commitment!
Worse than heroin, and I've never even tried heroin. LOL Seriously, if it is an addiction, then it's a good addiction, and so that's that as far as my opinon.
